Sunday, November 21, 2010

Rapper Nicki Minaj

"When I get up in the morning and put on a pink or a green wig, I see myself as a piece of animation...It lets me be the person I want to be, a person who's not embarrassed to have fun...These artists know that I have a very good fan base. Even if they don't like you, or your record, they'll support me." - The Rapper Nicki Minaj shares a bit of her rap persona with the New York Daily News. Click here to read more.

Minaj says she long envisioned such a cushy position for herself. Born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad, she moved with her parents to Queens at age 5, during a hard time for the neighborhood. "I'd walk outside and see crack vials. I would see broken glass and 40-ounce bottles."

Minaj claims her father abused drugs and alcohol and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire. Fantasy became the star's way out.

"I would dream of what I wanted my life to be. My mother was making $200 a week and my father was a drug addict, but I would ask my mother, ‘Can you ask Daddy to dress up and wear a suit and can you wear a gown and we can go dancing at a ballroom?' I was acting like Cinderella."

@ 5:07, I'm sure they did all tell the same story. They all grew up in the Ghettoes of NYC. Have you ever seen those Project communities? And in the mid-80's especially! Not that I don't think everything about this chic is a gimmick. The story is tired, and it seems just another way to garner "street credibility". SMH.

My cousin told me one night she was up at about 3:30am and this old movie came on and she said she couldn't believe her eyes. She said that if the movie wasn't in black & white and clearly late 40's you would have thought it was Queen Latifah. It's something how you guys made the same comparison. Now I'm gonna research Miss Bailey. Y'all do realize that a lot of these celebrities are related quiet as it's kept.

Regarding Pearl Bailey and Queen Latifah, Hollywood has yet to make a movie detailing the life of Pearl Bailey. Just like Beyonce played her grandmother Etta james Hawkins, Queen Latifah can play her grandmother Pearl Bailey. You can't tell me that Queen Latifah isn't related to Pearl Bailey. I had to pull up some youtube clips to see for myself. It's so obvious, she was a voice like Pearl Bailey too!

"A lot of people asked me about Pearl Bailey because we kind of favour each other. "I've seen a picture where I thought I was looking at a picture of me, and it was her. It's kind of very weird because we really looked alike in some of these pictures."

Latifah said she’s admired Bailey all her life and considers her a positive role model. A film biography of her life and times is long overdue.

“That could be one of those movies that could change a career,” she said. “Every time I’m asked about her, I’m reminded of a time when I saw a picture in a book and I thought it was me but it was actually Pearl, with a skinnier waist. I mean, in some ways we look identical.”